You're totally right and I can't really disagree with any of this. Though, the reason I personally cringe is 2-fold:fancybum wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:36 pmCan I just say about the fanfic part in tatinof that it was about on par with the cringe of a lot of the show (no offence to the show as an overall experience)? I’m interested in why that one part seems especially cringey to so many people. Is it because they/we don’t want a mirror turned on us as observers? We want D&P to pretend to be unaware about certain fandom activities or interests because it can be uncomfortable? Because I think it must be equally uncomfortable for them to have to turn a blind eye toward certain things (to varying degrees, granted) to maintain.. what? Distance? Feigned ignorance? And for what? Because I don’t think there’s any particular judgement inherent in acknowledgement. The fanfic section wasn’t about judging or mocking partakers of fanfiction, it was a comedic representation of them, as actual people with agency, being put in situations a lot of people like to imagine them in (taken to a ridiculous extreme, of course, for a comedy show about the internet exploding) and how they might feel about it in reality (and as a result of that, how it would differ from the fantasy). And I think the thought process behind that (viewer fantasy vs. D&P reality) is behind a lot of the weirdness of some ‘Dan being Dan’ moments (like the aggressive feeding of Phil while staring down the camera and the Phil/jacket story, and probably too many others to name). I think the concept of this tour (and the steady humanizing of themselves they’ve both been intentionally doing since the end of the last tour to lead up to this) is really cool. Those Dan moments, the fanfic section to a lesser extent, and (in theory so far) this whole tour is just them asserting their own humanity outside of their roles as performers. It’s just?? I like??
(but like. Yes, there’s still fear. Why are there handcuffs.)
Whether or not there's added humor/a comedic storyline involved, I don't like the inaccurate and somewhat negative reflection of fanfic. The mirror they turned on us was more of a fun-house mirror. They're showing us a caricature of ourselves and then laughing at it, so I perceive it as more mocking than it is meta.
I also hate to use this word and think it may come back to bite me in the ass, but it was a little bit.... ship-bait-y. Mind you, I don't love any of those Dan moments either, so I'm being very consistant here when I say I don't enjoy them playing up the romantic ship for humor, especially when, in most cases, it actively works to mock us.
I guess my thing is... I don't mind them bringing up fanfic, but when it gets to "Phil feeds Dan cake", I start to squirm. They're welcome to touch on their own humanity, but I'd personally rather see that by way of them behaving as they would normally around each other (within reason obviously) than acting out extreme fanfic to highlight the juxtaposition of that to reality.
In the end, I'll watch Dan and Phil do whatever and if that involves cop roleplay, I'll deal with it, but I won't like it.
:respekt: